Sick of it: Work-related stress can deal a serious blow to your health

Krisanaantharith/Dreamstime.com

Since you spend the majority of your day at work, any stress you feel is bound to have a detrimental impact on your well-being. Job-related stress can cause headaches, back and neck pains, anxiety, lightheadedness, lack of sleep and a loss of energy.?

Since you spend the majority of your day at work, any stress you feel is bound to have a detrimental impact on your well-being. Job-related stress can cause headaches, back and neck pains, anxiety, lightheadedness, lack of sleep and a loss of energy.? (Krisanaantharith/Dreamstime.com)

Marco Buscaglia, Tribune Content AgencyCareerBuilder

How's work, they ask.

Work's work, you answer.

After all, if you told them the truth, they might never ask you again. But work shouldn't be just "work." Granted, it doesn't have to be a day at the beach, but it shouldn't stress you out either, at least not all the time. But for many working Americans, job-related stress is just a fact of life. Maybe you're not meeting your sales quotas or hitting your deadlines. Maybe your boss seems intent on ruining the department from within. Or maybe, your co-workers have adopted an every-man-for-himself philosophy that makes it difficult for you to do your job.

Since you spend the majority of your day at work, any stress you feel is bound to have a detrimental impact on your well-being. Job-related stress can cause headaches, back and neck pains, anxiety, lightheadedness, lack of sleep and a loss of energy.

If you're feeling bad on the job, or having a hard time staying on task, there's a good chance stress is at least one of the culprits. Stress can often cause a domino-effect of health problems, so finding successful ways to battle stress is essential to feeling good and staying productive.

Beware of the vending machine

That bag of chips you crave at 2:45 p.m. each day? It's not your friend. For many, though, that daily dose of salt or sugar, usually purchased in a fried or chocolate-covered format, is a crutch to get through the day. Even if you think you feel an immediate effect, there's no long-term benefit. In fact, you're doing your body -- and your mood -- more harm than good.

Annie Kay, a registered dietician and author of "Every Bite is Divine" (Life Arts Press, $16.95), suggests looking for alternative ways to combat workplace stress. "Take a quick walk around the office, enjoy a breathing break or chew on a piece of gum," she says. "Finding non-food ways of handling stress and having a few healthy snacking options handy, can give you the strength you need to resist the salt and sugar."

While coffee and caffeine offer a quick pick-me-up, the immediate buzz also will be short-lived. Kay suggests eating a protein-rich snack, like a handful of nuts, a spoonful of peanut butter, a piece of fruit or a chunk of cheese.

'Get on up'

Richard Parsons, who manages a group of medical transcriptionists in Bloomington, Illinois, says he expects 10 minutes of activity from his staff every 60 minutes. "At the 50-minute mark of every hour, an alarm goes off on everyone's computer and they get up from their desk and move around," Parsons says. "I'd love it if a dance party started but mostly, people get up and stretch or go get some water. At first, people complained that is was like the book "1984," that they all had to obey and move at once, but now they've all bought into it. It's nice to see everyone out of their desks every hour and our productivity is higher than ever."

Parsons says he borrowed the idea of an hourly break from a professor in college. "It was a lecture class at night, like 200 people in an auditorium from 7 to 10, so it could get really boring," Parsons says. "But out of nowhere, he'd blast music right in the middle of one of his lectures, like James Brown or Madonna, and we'd all get up and shake off our fatigue. We'd move around for about five minutes and then he'd get back to his lecture."

And don't think your standing desk absolves you from activity. You still need to move your arms and legs every once in a while. A standing desk can be helpful in alleviating work-related stress but it isn't the cure-all many thought it would be. Still, it absolutely helps stagnant employees assume different working positions throughout the day. If you don't have a standing desk, ask your boss or HR department to consider purchasing one for you or several for your department. In many cases, employees received a standing desk after providing their employer with that proverbial note from their doctor, the one that says something like "Hey, you're killing this guy! Give him a break and spend a couple of bucks on a standing desk. What are you, a sadist?"

Get out of the office

At times, the hustle and bustle of the office only adds to the stress many employees feel. Add to that an extended, frustrating commute to and from work, a hectic get-the-kids-in-the-car-now exit from home each morning and the additional costs of parking and lunch and you've just doubled the size of that stress-ball in the pit of your stomach.

But it doesn't have to be that way. If you haven't already checked, find out if you can work from home two or three days a week. A recent study from the American Psychological Association found that working from home increases morale and job satisfaction among employees while lowering work-related stress and personnel turnover.

"Take away the traffic every morning and I'm in a better place all day," says Trina Scott, a graphic designer in San Francisco, who began working from home on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the start of the year. "Working from home two days a week has made me a better employee, there's no doubt."